Another Lenovo has made it inside the Midnight Mods HQ, but it’s not a Netbook. No, today we have a G530-444635U laptop with a Dual Core Pentium T4200 (2.00 GHz) CPU, 2 Gigabytes of RAM, Glossy 15.4” Wide XGA display, 160 Gigabyte 5400rpm hard drive, Dual Layer DVD-RW Optical Drive, Webcam (think it’s a Bison 1.3MP), and Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit.
First thing we need to do is get it out of the box and crack it open (to see how pretty it is of course.)
The packaging is very Lenovo- adequate and efficient. Under the hood, we have the CPU, heat sink, fan, and memory modules under one panel. Nice and easy to get to. The hard drive and MPCI slot each have their own panel. I have no arguments with this layout; it has served very well in the past.
This is the value model in the series, having slightly lower specs on just about everything, but for the price it’s an excellent personal or very small business on a budget computer. The system can handle up to 4 gigabytes of memory, has a sturdy feeling side mounted power jack, front loading Media Card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO), 4 ports of USB 2.0, long lasting 6 cell battery, and has a SATA interface hard drive.
Really, the only thing I was disappointed about was the responsiveness of the volume buttons after reinstalling the OS (think 20 seconds to go from high to low) and the viewing angle on the webcam, but it’s not really that bad. It’s perfect for a headshot and I’m guessing that’s at least partially because of the facial recognition software (did not test, clean installed Windows as soon as I got it :-) that was preloaded on it. A tip to increase picture quality somewhat: Remove the protective plastic that was put on it for shipping or else people like me are going to laugh at you as if your lens cap was still on.
Overall, I couldn’t find things to complain about. That’s a good thing right? Makes for a short post! Then again, that is why I look to Lenovo for laptops. They seem to be good a delivering solid design without going over budget. So, if your brain screams new laptop, but your wallet disagrees, I’d recommend giving the G530 a spin. It can usually be had for less than $350 when on sale at the big name stores or online.
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